260 ENDOSPOREAE [PROTOTRICHIA 



the capillitium having the general features of the former, but 

 exhibiting in some sporangia something of the spiral bands charac- 

 teristic of the latter germs- Jt differs from the species hitherto 

 comprised in both genera in the more substantial sporangium-wall 

 and in the clustered spores. 



Hub. On dead wood. -Alnwick, Northumberland (B.M. 3169); 

 Drumnadrochit, Inverness (B.M. 3170) ; Rhynie, Aberdeen (B.M. 1766) ; 

 Norway (B.M. 1538); Sweden (B.M. 3171) ; Austria (B.M. 3172); Mont 

 Tendre, Jura Mountains (B.M. slide). 



Genus 48.— PROTOTRICHIA Rostafinski Mon., App. p. 38 



(1876). Sporangia sessile, rarely stalked ; capillitium threads 

 rising from the base of the sporangium as stout strands 

 marked with spiral thickenings, dividing above into pencils of 

 slender branches attached at the tips to the upper part of the 

 sporangium- wall . 



1. P. metallica Mass. in Journ. R. Micr. Soc, 1889, 350. 

 Plasmodium white. Sporangia crowded or scattered, sub- 

 globose, - 5 to 1 mm. diam., sessile on a broad base, rarely 

 stalked or forming plasmodiocarps, brown or copper-coloured, 

 shining iridescent ; sporangium- wall a substantial pale 

 pinkish-brown or glaucous smooth translucent membrane, 

 sprinkled on the inner side with the slender persistent ends 

 of the broken capillitium threads. Stalk cylindrical, 0-1 to 

 0-4 mm. long, 0-15 mm. thick, solid, yellowish-brown. Capilli- 

 tium rising from the base of the sporangium in the form of 

 numerous red- or olive-brown stout solid threads marked 

 with two to four spiral bands, branching repeatedly above to 

 form a pencil of more slender threads attached at their 

 extremities to the sporangium-wall. Spores pink or pale 

 pinkish-brown, minutely warted, 9 to 11 /x diam. — Mass. Mon. 

 127. Trichia metallica Berk, in Hooker Fl. Tasm., pt. 2 

 268 (1860). T. flagellifera Berk. & Br. in Ann. Mag. Xat 

 Hist., ser. 3, xviii. 56 (1866). Prototrichia flagellifera Rost 

 Mon., App. p. 38 (1876) ; Mass. I.e. ; Lister Mycetozoa, 206 

 Macbride N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 199. P. elegantula Rost 

 I.e., 39, fig. 246. P. cuprea Mass. in Journ. R. Micr. Soc. 

 1889, 351 ; Mass. Mon., 129. P. chamaeleontina Mass. I.e., 

 130, in part. 



I']. 195. — a. sporangia; //. stalked sporangium; c. capillitium with fragment of 

 sporangium-wall aid spores; d. irregular capillitium with faint spirals; e. spore; 

 I England). 



P. metallica has appeared abundantly in the neigbbourhood of Lyme 

 Regis in a larch plantation for several years, in the autumn and winter, 

 on dead brambles and sticks. It is subject to considerable variation 

 from changes of temperature and weather. In the most perfect develop- 

 ment the strands of the capillitium are deep red-brown, sharply marked 



